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Volunteer for Limber Pine!
Oct 17, 2024
Ready for a challenge? Join us on this intensive volunteer opportunity to plant Limber Pine saplings inside the 2020 wildfire burn areas.
Come join us in planting limber pine seedlings! The East Troublesome wildfire of 2020 burned several populations of limber pines within Rocky Mountain National Park so intensely that natural regeneration will likely take several decades to begin again. This is your chance to participate in the recovery process and give limber pine saplings a helping hand.
Limber pine is a species of management concern in the park due to its decline throughout the North American West under pressure from climate change, white pine blister rust (an introduced fungal disease), beetle outbreaks, and wildfire. In Canada, limber pine is already listed as an endangered species. RMNP has an unusually high percentage of limber pines displaying genetic resistance to white pine blister, so the key to the future of the species may lie within these local genetics. By spending a day hard at work in the park, you’re helping to give this iconic species a fighting chance in the future.
Registration is required. Click here to sign up via Eventbrite.
What to expect: Participants will need to be able to hike 3-miles round trip with an 0.25 mile off-trail hike to planting site on steep terrain. Volunteers will be planting 3″-tall seedlings within a wildfire burn scar in exposed conditions (sun, wind, rain, snow). Planting will involve carrying seedlings to work site, kneeling, digging with hand tools, and attention to careful planting techniques.
Minimum age: 18 years
Dates (weather permitting): October 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17
Time: 8:00am – 4:00pm
Departure and return location: RMNP Headquarters at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center. A shuttle will take volunteers from headquarters to Hollowell Park Trailhead.
Work site: Steep Mountain accessed via 1.2-mile hike from Hollowell Park Trailhead
Nearest bathroom: Hollowell Park Trailhead
Gear to bring: Layers temperatures can vary a lot over the course of the day), rain gear, sun protection (sunscreen, hat, sunglasses), gloves if you prefer your own, day pack, lunch and snacks, and at least 2 liters of water per person.
Above: RMNP personnel planting limber pine saplings. Photo Credit: NPS
Below: The Steep Mountain planting site. Photo Credit: NPS
Note: Each date has a minimum requirement of 4 volunteers and a maximum of 20. If your desired date does not meet the minimum group requirement, we will try to reschedule you for another date.
Questions? Contact Danielle at the Rocky Mountain Conservancy– call 970-586-0108 ext. 100 or email danielle.wolf@RMConservancy.org.